My Soul to Steal
by Ai Roku
Summary: Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you, and the things you yearn for the most, are the things you come to fear.
1. Missing You

**Disclaimer: I own no rights to the Inuyasha franchise!**

**This is my attempt at Kneazles' Halloween Challenge 2013 on Dokuga. I hope you'll enjoy it****!**

**Prompt: Apple Bobbing**

"I swear Kagome, you'll have a blast! They're doing a completely western style party with apple bobbing and everything!"

The blue eyed girl was unable to give a reply as Yuka's pleading was inevitably joined by Eri's attempt at coercion; or in other words a guilt trip of epic proportions.

"Yeah Kagome you just have to come, it's been so long since you've hung out with us! You never want to do anything fun anymore; all you ever do is go to classes, study, work, and help out at the shrine. Haven't you ever heard that saying about all work and no play?"

Before Kagome could decide whether or not to take offence at her friend's insinuation that she had become a dull girl, true though it was; a third voice joined the fray.

"Come on guys, leave Kagome alone, it's not like she's avoiding us or anything she's just been busy, that's all."

Somehow Ayumi's sincere defense of her had done what all Yuka and Eri's whining and complaints could never have managed. Kagome felt guilty, so guilty in fact that she did something she knew she was going regret.

"Sure I'll go; a Halloween party sounds like fun!"

Synchronized squeals split the air and the shell shocked girl was pounced upon and engulfed by her three excited friends.

After being forced to promise that she would meet up with them for lunch the next day to go over the details of the party, or more specifically their costumes and whether or not they should coordinate them; Kagome finally managed to extract herself from the well meaning girls.

Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi were the best friends that she could possibly ask for, but being around them always made her feel lonely.

She hadn't quite fit in with them since her travels through time first began and she had become painfully aware of that fact. But she wanted so desperately to bridge the gap between them. The four of them had been friends for far too long for Kagome to just let them drift away without a fight.

But even so she dreaded going to this party. From experience she knew that she would only feel awkward and out of touch if she went. But she didn't want to keep on disappointing the girls, so even if it killed her she knew she'd suffer through it and put on the performance of a lifetime to make them believe she was enjoying herself!

With a sigh she reflected morosely that it had been years since she had genuinely enjoyed herself. In fact not since her adventures in the sengoku jidai had she felt truly exhilarated.

It had been a little over three years now since the final battle with Naraku; three years since she had been forced to leave the feudal era behind. Yet even after all that time she could still recall it all with startling clarity

Upon awakening and finding herself at the bottom of the Bone Eater's well, she had known immediately that it was sealed. The vague feeling of power she had come to recognize was completely gone, leaving only a sense of growing desolation in her heart.

At first she had been convinced that there had to be some way to reopen the well. To that end she had thrown herself into research, scouring the shrine's storehouses for scrolls on ancient rituals and sacred objects, and listening for hours on end as her grandpa droned on and on about the history and mythos of the shrine.

But after the first year had passed with no breakthroughs in her search, and the glaring lack of the eagerly anticipated visits from Inuyasha, Shippo, Koga or any of her other youkai companions, she began to lose hope.

Despairing of ever seeing any of them again, but desperately wanting to assure herself that they had gone on to lead happy lives; Kagome then began trying to find out the fates of her friends.

She read every book, scroll, and record she could find; frequenting libraries, museums, and even other temples and shrines. She searched anywhere and everywhere that she could think of for facts, myths and legends involving a heroic inu hanyou, a female demon slayer with a nekomatta partner, a cursed monk, an orphaned fox kit, a brash ookami prince, or the beautiful but deadly Lord of the West, all in vain.

However her obsession while fruitless did eventually lead to her current job as a tour guide at the Edo-Tokyo museum.

She had been afraid at first that a job would interfere with her college studies, and frankly she'd worked way too hard to get into college to risk messing it up. But when Kagome had shown reluctance to accept the job offer the curator had jokingly told her that since she was there every day anyway she might as well get paid for it.

Accepting the job offer had turned out to be one of the best decisions she had ever made. Far from what she had feared, the job had actually proven useful in augmenting her studies instead of hindering them.

But more than that, more even than the welcome distraction a job provides; the museum had become her sanctuary.

Since her return to the modern era she had felt lost, as if there was something missing, and as much as she loved Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi there was no way that she could ever explain to them that there was a reason that all she ever did was go to school, work, and to her family's shrine.

They would never be able to understand that it was only in these places that she felt almost as though she were whole again.

Because whether it was reliving a moment from her sojourn into the past as her Japanese history professor gave a lecture on an epic battle between two feudal Lords; simply seeing and being in the presence of the well and the Goshinboku, or just walking into the museum where she worked; the sad fact was that Kagome Higurashi, The Shikon miko, and former time traveler extraordinaire only felt happy and at home surrounded by the relics of the past, by the things that reminded her most of the friends who were forever lost to her.

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Lights Out

Disclaimer: I own no rights to Inuyasha!

**Well here's chapter 2! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed chapter 1!**

**Prompt: Lantern from Kneazles' Halloween 2013 Challenge**

`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,``,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`

Feeling quite stiff after spending three long hours hunched over a table Kagome stretches her arms above her head wincing as she hears her back crack. Glancing at the clock on the wall she notes that it is now a quarter after midnight, deciding that it's time to take a break from her work she scoots her chair back carefully, trying not to jostle any of the priceless artifacts on the table in front of her.

Rare as such days were, she always enjoyed the days that she was assigned to catalogue the museum's newest acquisitions. And honestly she really didn't mind burning the midnight oil doing the 'grunt work' for Dr. Yusuke Takabayashi; the museum's head researcher and authenticator.

She was always ecstatic to be given the opportunity to touch the relics of her beloved Sengoku Jidai, to actually interact with the pieces of her past as opposed to simply pointing them out and explaining their origins while leading a tour. Cataloguing helped her to keep not just the ephemeral memories of her time in the warring states era alive but also the tactile sensations of her experiences as well.

To be perfectly honest Kagome preferred being left to her own devices this way. At this hour the usually bustling museum was completely empty with the exception of the old night watchmen Gin, and left to her solitude she allowed her memories free reign.

Looking down at the table contemplatively she gently brushes her finger against a simple clay tea cup, reminiscing about a lazy afternoon spent sipping tea in Kaede's hut.

She remembered the sound of the elder miko's mortar and pestle as it ground some unrecalled combination of herbs into a paste; the medicinal scent of the concoction permeating the small space…

Then the boisterous argument that began when a mischievous Shippo had stolen Inuyasha's last cookie, which eventually lead to the enraged hanyou chasing the small kitsune around the confines of the hut until Inuyasha's foot had landed on Kagome's still untouched plate of cookies pulverizing them. This of course had earned him a quiet and deceptively calm 'sit' command while she had mourned the destruction of her poor cookies. His grunts and grumbled curses drew a dry chuckle from Kaede, and then the dam broke. Unable to contain their own mirth any longer Sango's soft laughter, and Miroku's deep guffaw joined the childish giggling of Shippo; even Kirara had been emitting breathy little chuffs at Inuyasha's expense.

There Kagome sat, still calmly sipping her tea when the fuming Hanyou, finally able to move, whipped his head off the floor glared at her and yelled in a voice filled with furious embarrassment and a small amount of wounded betrayal, "**Kago-**" .

_"Kagome,"_

Startled Kagome whips around searching for the owner of the whisper soft voice that had just called her name. Seeing no one behind her she shrugs and returns her attention to the table once again.

With horror she notices that in her haste to turn around she has knocked the tea cup onto its side. Fearing the worst the blue eyed girl gingerly lifts the cup and begins a thorough inspection searching for any possible damage her blunder may have caused it.

'Nice job Kagome, destroy a priceless object why don't you,' she berates herself, but sighs in relief when her examination proves the cup still remains in one piece.

After such a scare she gathers her focus, refusing to fall back into her memories again, and resumes her work.

Finished with the items on the table Kagome moves over to the far left corner of the room where the last crate sits waiting to be unpacked.

Crouching down, she grabs the crowbar leaning up against the wall and gently pries open the lid revealing a small brass temple lantern. Reaching to carefully extract it from the packing material; she suddenly sees a startling flash of red and silver dart by her peripheral vision.

Turning her head sharply to follow the splash of color she sees only the room as it has been all night. 'God you're pathetic Kagome, one little memory and now you're not only hearing things but seeing things as well!' Disgusted with her own over active imagination, she decides to give up for the night and go home.

Straightening from her crouched position, Kagome walks over to Dr. Takabayashi's desk to retrieve her bag from the locked drawer. Reaching her hand inside the front pocket of her jeans in order to extract the key she feels a phantom breeze whip through the room rustling the loose papers sitting atop the desk and blowing her hair in all directions.

"What the" before she can finish her exclamation, a sensation of unbearable cold wraps around her body seeming to tighten across her chest, siphoning the very breath from her lungs.

Panicked she tries to run to the open door in front of her, but only inches away from her ultimate goal the door shockingly slams shut, and she hears the faint turning of the lock.

Above her head the lights begin shattering one by one, the popping sound reverberating off the walls as sparks and shattered glass rain down on her head.

The deafening noise suddenly ceases leaving only darkness in its wake.

`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`

**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


End file.
